O Lord, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences;
that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from
the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed:
Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our
blessed Lord and Saviour. _Amen_.
THE EPISTLE. Coloss. i. 3.
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ
Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints; for the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before
in the word of the truth of the Gospel; which is come unto you, as
it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also
in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in
truth. As ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant,
who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; who also declared
unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since the
day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that
ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom
and spiritual understanding: that ye might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing
in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according
to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with
joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
THE GOSPEL. St Matth. ix. 18.
While Jesus spake these things unto John's disciples, behold,
there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter
is even now dead; but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall
live. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.
(And behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood
twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I
shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her,
he said, Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee
whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.) And when
Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the
people making a noise, he said unto them, Give place; for the
maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by
the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into
all that land.